The Best of the Week in Mysteries and Thrillers

Extreme Prey

After the events in Gathering Prey, Lucas Davenport finds himself in a very unusual situation - no longer employed by the Minnesota BCA. His friend, the governor, is just cranking up a presidential campaign, though, and he invites Lucas to come along as part of his campaign staff. "Should be fun!" he says, and it kind of is - until they find they have a shadow: an armed man intent on killing the governor...and anyone who gets in the way.

Hide Away

Dramatic changes are on the horizon for Eve and Joe Quinn, and their relationship may never be the same. Faced with the task of protecting Cara Delaney, a young girl with ruthless enemies who want to see her dead, Eve takes her away to the remote Scottish Highlands, where they join Jane MacGuire in search of a hidden treasure. But nowhere is far enough away to protect Cara from danger.

The Other Widow: A Novel

It isn't safe. That's what Joe tells her when he ends their affair - moments before their car skids off an icy road in a blinding snowstorm and hits a tree. Desperate to keep her life intact - her job, her husband, and her precious daughter, Lily - Dorrie will do everything she can to protect herself, even if it means walking away from the wreckage. Dorrie has always been a good actress, pretending to be someone else: the dutiful daughter, the satisfied wife, the woman who can handle anything.

Gold of Our Fathers

Darko Dawson has just been promoted to chief inspector in the Ghana Police Service - the promotion even comes with a (rather modest) salary bump. But he doesn't have long to celebrate, because his new boss is transferring him from Accra, Ghana's capital, out to remote Obuasi in the Ashanti region, an area now notorious for the illegal exploitation of its gold mines. When Dawson arrives at the Obuasi headquarters, he finds it in complete disarray.

Mojado: Navajo Nation, Book 4

When Mexico's bloodiest predator invades the reservation, it's up to Charlie Yazzie and his friends to take charge the Navajo way. Navajo can track prey, but can Charlie, Thomas, and Harley Ponyboy catch the killer before he catches them?

Kill Switch: Joe Ledger, Book 8

Terrorists have acquired a terrible new weapon that can crash the power grid and plunge America into a new dark age. A coordinated attack is planned to shut out all lights and emergency services to 10 major cities. Planes will fall, hospitals will go dark, no help will come. And in that terrible darkness, a dreadful plague will be released. If the lights go off, nothing can stop the bioweapon from killing millions. At the same time, the intelligence services are being torn apart from within by a plague of betrayal, murder, and suicide.

Into the Wild: Book Two of The Malcontents

Now under the leadership of the reluctant Lieutenant Kelvan Cleasby, the Sixth Platoon of Storm Knights has been ordered to accompany an archeological expedition from the Royal Cygnaran University deep into the Wyrmwall Mountains to investigate an ancient site of potentially great historical value. But what seems a simple enough assignment will rapidly turn into a test of the platoon's survival skills - an abandoned fort, the lone survivor of a horrifying attack, and a ferociously territorial tribe may be more than even the Malcontents can handle.

Bright Blaze of Magic

As a thief, I'm good at three things: hiding in the shadows, getting in and out unseen, and uncovering secrets. I put these skills to work for the Sinclair Family, one of the magical mobs that run the tourist town of Cloudburst Falls. Everyone knows Victor Draconi wants to take over all the other Families - and kill every last Sinclair. What they don't know is that I'm on to him, and no way will I let the man who murdered my mom get away with hurting all the other people I care about.

Serengeti

It was supposed to be an easy job: find the Dark Star Revolution Starships, destroy them, and go home. But a booby-trapped vessel decimates the Meridian Alliance fleet, leaving Serengeti - a Valkyrie class warship with a sentient AI brain - on her own, wrecked and abandoned in an empty expanse of space. On the edge of total failure, Serengeti thinks only of her crew. She herds the survivors into a lifeboat, intending to sling them into space. But the escape pod sticks in her belly, locking the cryogenically frozen crew inside.

The Road to Hell: Multiverse, Book 3

The war between magically gifted Arcana and psionically talented Sharona continues to rage. The dragon-borne Arcanan assault across five universes has been halted at Fort Salby by a desperate defense, but at atrocious cost. One of those costs was the life of Crown Prince Janaki, heir to the newly created Sharonian Empire, who went knowingly to his death in the tradition expected of the House of alirath.

Sharp Ends: Stories from the World of the First Law

The Union army may be full of bastards, but there's only one who thinks he can save the day single-handed when the Gurkish come calling: the incomparable Colonel Sand dan Glokta. Curnden Craw and his dozen are out to recover a mysterious item from beyond the Crinna. Only one small problem: No one seems to know what the item is.

Red Knight Falling: Harmony Black, Book 2

FBI agent Harmony Black and her team, Vigilant Lock, face a new type of threat: one from beyond the stars. They'd always heard the Red Knight was an urban legend: in 1954, three years before Sputnik launched, a mysterious satellite was sighted circling Earth, though no power on the planet had such technology.

Ladies Man: Tahoe's Story: Manwhore, Book 4

He's not the guy you date. He's the one night stand. You'd think the man who sends hot looks my way, who called me succulent, would want to strip me to my skin and spread me out on his bed like every other woman in Chicago. Except, he passed on my offer.... Just like I once passed on his. He's wary, like I am. He's broken, like I am. And everyone knows two broken parts can't ever make a whole.

A Buccaneer at Heart: The Adventurers Quartet, Book 2

Robert is the second-eldest Frobisher brother and is summoned to follow up on the secret mission started by his brother Declan. Arriving at the West African seaport settlement, he meets Aileen, who is determined to find her cousin who disappeared along with the other missing people Robert has been sent to find. Naturally, their paths cross.

Sidebarred: A Legal Briefs Novella

There was a time when Jake Becker had it all together. He was controlled, driven, ruthless - in and out of the courtroom. Then, six irresistible orphans and their heartbreakingly beautiful aunt crashed into his perfectly ordered life. They changed everything. They changed him. Now he's a husband, an upstanding member of society, a father figure - a family man.

Best of My Love: Fool's Gold, Book 20

To overcome her painful past, baker Shelby Gilmore goes on the hunt for a friend - a male friend - to convince her stubborn psyche that men can be trusted. But where in a town as small as Fool's Gold will the petite blonde find a guy willing to not date her? Dark, charming Aidan Mitchell puts the "adventure" in Mitchell Adventure Tours...and into the beds of his many willing female tourists. Until he realizes he's inadvertently become that guy - the one-night Casanova - and worse, everyone in town knows it.

Something About Lorelei

My name is Jack Sutton, CEO of Sutton Fashion Magazine, and I had the world at my fingertips. A successful career, loads of money, and beautiful women who were always at my beck and call. My problem? I lived under the shadow of my mother, who started the company over 30 years ago. Not to mention her being married and divorced six times, which left a bad taste in my mouth as far as relationships were concerned.

One Second: Seven, Book 7

Lexi has faced personal struggles, but nothing has prepared her for the most perilous battle of her life. Shifters are on the brink of war as Northerners target Colorado in an attempt to infiltrate the borders. Texas winds up on the hit list, and the Weston pack prepares to fight for their land...and for their lives. Austin's courage is put to the test when rogues want to seize his land and slaughter his pack. But that's not all he's facing as two shocking revelations turn their lives upside down.

The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate the Three Essential Virtues: A Leadership Fable

In The Ideal Team Player, Lencioni tells the story of Jeff Shanley, a leader desperate to save his uncle's company by restoring its cultural commitment to teamwork. Jeff must crack the code on the virtues that real team players possess and then build a culture of hiring and development around those virtues. Beyond the fable, Lencioni presents a practical framework and actionable tools for identifying, hiring, and developing ideal team players.

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company's early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world's most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.

The Star-Touched Queen

Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father's kingdom. Though she's content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar.

Under the Big Black Sun: A Personal History of L.A. Punk

Under the Big Black Sun explores the nascent Los Angeles punk rock movement and its evolution to hardcore punk as it's never been told before. Authors John Doe and Tom DeSavia have woven together an enthralling story of the legendary West Coast scene from 1977 to 1982 by enlisting the voices of people who were there. The book shares chapter-length tales from the authors along with personal essays from famous (and infamous) players in the scene.

Sleeping Giants

A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.

The Raven King: The Raven Cycle, Book 4

All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

Lady Renegades: A Rebel Belle Novel

Just as Harper Price starts coming to terms with her role as David Stark's battle-ready Paladin, protector, and girlfriend, her world goes crazy all over again. Overwhelmed by his Oracle powers, David flees Pine Grove and starts turning teenage girls into Paladins, and these young ladies seem to think that Harper is the enemy David needs protecting from. Ordinarily Harper would be able to fight off any Paladin who comes her way, but her powers have been dwindling since David left town.

My Favorite Universe

What forces molded the universe? Are those forces still at work, removing, changing, or adding heavenly bodies even as we gaze upward? Will humanity, and Earth itself, one day be gone? Are we alone? In an era when science journalism is perhaps more thorough and ambitious than ever before, fascinating explorations of questions like these seem available to us almost every day - provided we have a working understanding of the scientific theories on which they're based.

Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?

De Waal reviews the rise and fall of the mechanistic view of animals and opens our minds to the idea that animal minds are far more intricate and complex than we have assumed. De Waal's landmark work will convince you to rethink everything you thought you knew about animal - and human - intelligence.

Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep

A portrait of a woman, an era, and a profession: the first thoroughly researched biography of Meryl Streep - the "Iron Lady" of acting, nominated for 19 Oscars and winner of three - that explores her beginnings as a young woman of the 1970s grappling with love, feminism, and her astonishing talent.

Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency

The most powerful political tool of the modern presidency is control of the message and the image. In Republic of Spin - a vibrant history covering more than 100 years of politics - presidential historian David Greenberg recounts the rise of the White House spin machine, from Teddy Roosevelt to Barack Obama. His sweeping, startling narrative takes us behind the scenes to see how the tools and techniques of image making and message craft work.

A Kiss from Mr. Fitzgerald

It's 1922 in the Manhattan of gin, jazz and prosperity. Women wear makeup and hitched hemlines - and enjoy a new freedom to vote and work. Not so for Evelyn Lockhart, who is forbidden from pursuing her passion to become one of the first female doctors. Chasing her dream will mean turning her back on her family: her competitive sister, Viola; her conservative parents; and the childhood best friend she is expected to marry, Charlie.